The field of this invention relates to small gasoline powered motors used in a variety of home, gardening, and commercial applications and, more particularly, to a device for replacement of the starter pull cords that are commonly found on small motors.
Small gasoline powered engines are used to power various kinds of tools. These range from string weed cutters, lawn mowers, snow blowers, pumps, generators, garden tillers, and so on. Many of these devices employ a pull cord to provide the initial impetus to start the engine. Initially, the pull cord would be hand wrapped around a reel by a user with the end being secured in a slot by a knot in the cord. When the cord was entirely wrapped around a reel, the user would pull on one end of the cord to unwind it from the reel, thus imparting a rotational movement to the reel which provided the impetus to start the engine. However, the winding and unwinding of the cord was tedious and a pull cord was soon permanently mounted on an engine in a spring biased recoil reel device. Thus, the cord automatically rewinds on its own. This is proven far more convenient than the earlier removable cord.
However, a spring-mounted reel with a permanently wound cord on that reel can lead to repairs. First, the spring itself can wear out or be broken and the cord can wear out or be broken. Repairing either the spring or the pull cord in this configuration can be a tedious and difficult job. To mount a new spring, a number of devices have been proposed (see generally Scott, U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,561; Scott, U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,449; Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,372; Gillotti, U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,300; Fidler, U.S. Pat. No. 3,748,716; and Amberg, U.S. Pat. No. 3,263,532).
Replacing a pull cord also presents problems. First, the assembly which mounts the pull cord, reel and spring must be removed from the engine. Ordinarily, this is relatively simply done by removing several bolts and lifting the housing off. Once the housing is off, any remnants of a broken or frayed cord can usually be readily removed from the reel by cutting one end and simply unwinding the cord and pulling it off the reel. At that point, however, the repair job becomes difficult. First, the spring-loaded reel must be fully wound against the bias pressure of the spring. Usually, there is a hole or bore in the housing that must be lined up with the reel to begin the process of threading the cord through the reel. As this is taking place, the position of the reel must be maintained against the pressure of the spring in the wound position. Once the cord is threaded through the appropriate holes and tied into place, then the reel may be released to wind slack cord within the reel as the spring unwinds. The spring within the reel will take care of winding the cord up to a fully coiled position. The housing can then be replaced on the small engine, cord cut to an appropriate length, and a handle added to facilitate pulling the cord.
This job is complicated by the fact that there is no standardization in the industry regarding how the pull cord assembly fits to a mower. In some cases, a spindle may project from the top of the mower which matches a female receptor on the pull cord assembly. In other circumstances, other arrangements are provided.
Azar, U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,661 proposes an elongated shank with a handle fixed to it. At one end of the shank, opposite from the handle, is a lobed end which fits within a recoil sprocket of the pull cord assembly. One may use the handle to wind the recoil sprocket of the pull cord assembly to the fully wind the spring and thus, rewind the pull cord. Azar proposes that the shank can be mounted with a ratcheting device in order to prevent inadvertent rewinding of the recoil pulley.
Despite this work there is still a need for a tool to facilitate replacing a pull cord in a pull cord starter apparatus for a small engine. First, a tool to rewind the cord should be simple to operate and useable by one person. Second, the tool should adjust to different configurations of the pull cord housing as are found in different types of small motors. Third, the tool should be easy to use and inexpensively constructed of off-the-shelf materials. Today there is no such tool available.
The current invention consists of a spindle mounted within a housing. At one end of the spindle there is a circular handle, which can be gripped for rotational motion. The spindle is mounted with a ratchet. In approximately the area where the ratchet is mounted, a plurality of adjustable locking arms extend outwardly approximately perpendicular to the spindle. These locking arms are used to secure the spindle in place inside a housing. At a second end of the spindle, opposite from the circular handle, is a female fitting to allow several different types of devices to be removably fixed thereto. These devices are used to wind the pull cord assembly.